[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[2banana]

The real 'root cause' of global terror

That is easy - ISLAM

[freedomson]

Wow, great article!

Bump

[JasonC]

The analysis is entirely correct.

[marty60]

TRUTH

[coconutt2000]

I blame the MSM.

[johnny7]

Until Islam is identified as the root cause of middle-east terrorism... all of our efforts are just band-aid, quick fixes.

Russia is using the Beslan massacre as a vehicle to solidify Putin's already tightening grip on his nation. Given the new powers he seeks, Russia is turning inward... and most of all, backward... to the days of the USSR!

Islam is a corrupt religion... it is based on medieval law that despises the cultures of the west. It cannot live side-by-side with Judaic or Christian nations.

It is not interested in dialog and it will not cease it's bloody quest until its current form is erased from the planet!

[Stultis]

Most of the tactics now being used by Iraqis and Chechens were invented by the Palestinians.

I'm not sure this is true. My recollection is that modern terror tactics, including hiijackings, were first employed by a South America insurgency movement (I forget which one and where) and that the Soviets arranged seminars were these were passed on to promising young militants, including Arafat.

[Sarastro]

You often see pundits calling for a search for the "root cause" of terrorism. But they too often stop at poverty or stagnant, repressive polities. They need then to ask why these conditions exist (i.e., their root cause). The answer is that Islam is inconsistent with economic growth (having such economically suicidal provisions as a prohibition on interest, without which no economy can develop) and political development (insisting on no separation between religion and government and governing solely through religious law). That much is obvious.

What is less obvious is whether Islamic totalitarianism is the necessary conclusion of Islam or there is a less toxic, more moderate form that could eventually dominate the fundamentalists. People of good will, including some Muslims (see here), hope that eventually Islamic moderates will come forth and save the day. We should all hope for that.

But in case that can never happen because violence is so fundamental to Islam (as it seems to be based on the Islamic scriptures themselves), we must not delude ourselves. In that case, there will be a full-scale religious war in place of the low-level war already in progress (which Bush recognizes, but Kerry does not). Whether the West has the guts to wage it will only become clear over time. Right now, it doesn't look like it.

[American in Israel]

Great Article.

I still wonder to this day why we help the Paleo-stiens.

[Sam Cree]

check later